Canadian Politics Today

Pretty sure nobody needs to choose between food and medications right now per Trudeau.  Provinces have their own drug coverage insurance plans that helps anyone of any income level from going broke due to drug costs, at least in my province.  If you're low income you pay a small deductible, a few hundred dollars a year, then the gov pays the rest, again at least in my neck of the woods.  If you make more money you pay a larger deductive depending on your income, but either way nobody is going broke just because you have 20 grand in expensive drugs.

its not, as you say, "per Trudeau"... that comes directly from the final report/recommendations of the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare; specifically, facts & key recommendations:

- Canadians spent $34 billion on prescription medicines in 2018
- On a per capita basis, only the United States and Switzerland spend more on medicines
- One in five Canadians struggle to pay for their prescription medicines. Three million don’t fill their prescriptions because they can’t afford to. One million Canadians cut spending on food and heat to be able to afford their medicine
- Canada is the only country in the world with universal health care that does not provide universal coverage for prescription drugs
- Universal, single-payer public pharmacare will provide access to prescribed medicines for all Canadians, including the estimated one in five who are either uninsured or underinsured.
- A national formulary will ensure the same medicines are offered right across Canada.
- The Council is recommending that pharmacare be portable for Canadians wherever they travel or live within Canada; that there be a separate pathway, with dedicated funding, for expensive drugs for rare diseases; and that the approval process for drugs be further streamlined so Canadians can get faster access to new, innovative drugs.
- Universal, single-payer public pharmacare will result in better value for money and substantial savings for governments, businesses, and individual Canadians.
- Once implemented, pharmacare’s stronger negotiating power, lower administrative costs, as well as other improvements will save taxpayers an estimated $5 billion annually. Savings for individual Canadians and their families will be significant and tangible. Canadian families will save, on average, $350 per year. Pharmacare will also provide businesses with much-needed relief from the high and growing cost of prescription drug insurance. The average business owner who provides drug coverage will save over $750 annually per employee.
- The Council recommends that Canadians and employers continue to be able to purchase private drug insurance as a form of supplementary insurance to national pharmacare.